Sudanese Rapid Support Forces Accidentally Shoot Down UAE Cargo Plane

A New Way Cargo Ilyushin IL-76 freighter, registration EX-76011 Hex: 601120, performing a freight flight from Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan - Amdjarass, Chad, was shot down by Sudanese paramilitary forces Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on Monday, October 21, 2024, near Al Mahla North Darfur, Sudan. 

The exact identity of the downed aircraft remains unclear, though, a safety card recovered at the crash site shows it being an IL-76 belonging to New Way Cargo. The plane is believed to have departed from Ras al Khaimah in the United Arab Emirates, where the airline operates a base. 

According to the Sudan War Monitor publication, the RSF reportedly mistook the aircraft for a Sudanese military plane (https://sudanwarmonitor.com/p/sudanese-paramilitary-mistakenly).

Debris from the wreckage indicated that the Soviet-era IL-76 was part of an airlift allegedly sponsored by the UAE in support of RSF. Although no fatalities have been officially confirmed, the four-engined IL-76s typically operate with a crew of five. Evidence from the crash site suggests the crew included a Kyrgyz engineer and a Russian crew member, while the identities of the other crew members remain unknown.

The Conflict Observatory (https://hub.conflictobservatory.org/portal/apps/sites/#/conflict-observatory), an American NGO founded by the U.S. Department of State in 2022, identified several Kyrgyz Ilyushin-76 aircraft involved in the UAE’s airlift operations to Amdjarass, Chad. Among these aircraft were two planes operated by New Way Cargo Airlines (EX-76010 and EX-76015), both based in Ras Al Khaimah. 

The Investigators have tracked seven known cargo flights and an additional 35 unidentified flights to Amdjarass Airport between June 2023 and May 2024. While the UAE maintains these flights are for humanitarian purposes, researchers at the Conflict Observatory assert that the planes are likely transporting military supplies.

The ongoing conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) began in April 2023 with fighting breaking out in the capital, Khartoum, and other strategic areas across Sudan, including the presidential palace and Khartoum Airport. The conflict stems from a power struggle between the de facto leader of Sudan, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan of the SAF, and his deputy, General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (also known as Hemedti) of the RSF.

Once allies in ousting former President Omar al-Bashir in 2019, the two generals also led a military coup in 2021 that deposed Sudan's civilian prime minister and cabinet and suspended the constitution. However, after agreeing to a framework for a democratic transition in December 2021, tensions rose over the RSF’s integration into the SAF and who would lead the newly unified military. This power struggle ultimately led to the ongoing violent conflict.